PDP Demands Arrest of Returning Officer for Plateau Central Senatorial District
By Daniel Agada, Jos
A Coalition of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Support Group in Plateau Central Senatorial District has called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Dr. Jimam Lar, the returning Officer for the Senatorial District over the re-collation exercise that brought Hon. Diket Plang as the Senator-Elect for the Senatorial District in the State.
Leader of the Coalition, Hon. Gengwe Wushangka made this call during a press conference held at the PDP State Secretariat on Monday in Jos the Plateau State capital.
“We are here today to express our total displeasure over the shamed declaration of one Hon Diket Plang of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Senator elect of the
Plateau Central Senatorial District on the 15th April, 2023 in Pankshin.
“We as a people, party and concerned group in defence of democracy, fairness and justice, have out rightly rejected the shameful declaration made by one purported INEC Returning Officer of the Plateau Central Senatorial District in favor of the candidate of the APC as the winner of the election.
Wushangka said the processes leading to the date of the “purported declaration”was not duly followed in line with the Electoral Guidelines and the Electoral Act which led to the sudden emergence of an unknown INEC Returning Officer for the Senatorial District who they feel impersonated the position of the accredited Returning Officer in person of Prof. Bulus Dabi who earlier on agreed to complete what he earlier started as the originally accredited INEC Returning Officer.
“We hereby call for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Dr Timchang Jimmam Lar, a lecturer with the Department of History and International Studies, University of Jos, who declared the so-called winner of the election for impersonation.
He said the war like deployment of security personnel to the venue and the local government headquarters of Pankshin LGA on the day of the supposed “review, sorting, collation and declaration of the winner of the election in the Person of Amb- G.Y.Gotom, cast suspicion on the minds of the people of Plateau Central that the outcome had been premeditated and predetermined to declare the loser in the election as the winner.
Wushangka maintained that the Central Zone is known to be the heartbeat of Plateau politics with an unflinching support for the PDP since 1999. It is noteworthy that one LGA has been the cog in the wheel of political progress of the Central Zone since 2019 National Assembly elections till date.
